Safety and sustainability research for university schools of fine arts

Designing new teaching programs for both undergraduate and graduate university studies involves integrating concepts and methodologies regarding quality, work safety and hazard prevention, and environmental protection. One of the challenges facing Spanish research within the realm of European Higher Education concerns health and safety issues in the Arts.In the case of Fine Arts, student exploration is one of the fundamental pillars of the study program; therefore it is imperative that art studios be optimized. This optimization affects both designated resources (infrastructures, materials, equipment, etc.) and organization of the teaching force.In this context, the aim of our research is to improve educational practices by designing quality measures that are both friendly to the environment and hazardous free. The aim here is to assure adequate art studio and laboratory management, and provide students with hazard free health and environmentally safe concepts that can be incorporated in their professional lives.The school of Fine Arts at the University of Barcelona is part of a pilot program, where our experience in educational innovation and research is serving as a reference for the implantation of OSHAS 18001 norms.

Safety and sustainability research for university schools of fine arts

Designing new teaching programs for both undergraduate and graduate university studies involves integrating concepts and methodologies regarding quality, work safety and hazard prevention, and environmental protection. One of the challenges facing Spanish research within the realm of European Higher Education concerns health and safety issues in the Arts.In the case of Fine Arts, student exploration is one of the fundamental pillars of the study program; therefore it is imperative that art studios be optimized. This optimization affects both designated resources (infrastructures, materials, equipment, etc.) and organization of the teaching force.In this context, the aim of our research is to improve educational practices by designing quality measures that are both friendly to the environment and hazardous free. The aim here is to assure adequate art studio and laboratory management, and provide students with hazard free health and environmentally safe concepts that can be incorporated in their professional lives.The school of Fine Arts at the University of Barcelona is part of a pilot program, where our experience in educational innovation and research is serving as a reference for the implantation of OSHAS 18001 norms.

Standard care practices and psychosocial interventions aimed at reducing parental distress following stillbirth: A systematic narrative review

Objective: To summarise and critically evaluate the evidence informing the provision of standard care practices and psychosocial interventions following stillbirth. Background: Stillbirth is increasingly recognised as a significant bereavement experience with the potential to cause substantial psychological distress for parents. Standard care practices and psychosocial interventions to support parents have undergone dramatic changes, with limited basis in evidence. Methods: A systematic narrative review was conducted of quantitative studies examining interventions designed to reduce psychological distress in parents following the loss of a stillborn baby. Results: Twenty-five studies met the inclusion criteria for the review. Substantial methodological weaknesses were identified among reviewed studies, including small and heterogeneous loss samples, weak study designs and lack of clarity in reported methods and outcomes. Inadequate replication of many findings substantially limits the generalisability of the evidence. Conclusion: Tentative evidence was found for the provision of mementoes of the baby and information regarding the cause of the loss, support group attendance, and cognitive behavioural interventions for parents identified with clinical levels of distress. Contradictory findings for the impact of contact with the baby prevent the formation of clear conclusions for this practice. Due to the methodological weaknesses prevalent in the research identified, the current evidence base is not considered sufficiently able to reliably inform care practices and intervention approaches. High-quality research evidence in this field is urgently required.

Safety and sustainability research for university schools of fine arts

Designing new teaching programs for both undergraduate and graduate university studies involves integrating concepts and methodologies regarding quality, work safety and hazard prevention, and environmental protection. One of the challenges facing Spanish research within the realm of European Higher Education concerns health and safety issues in the Arts.In the case of Fine Arts, student exploration is one of the fundamental pillars of the study program; therefore it is imperative that art studios be optimized. This optimization affects both designated resources (infrastructures, materials, equipment, etc.) and organization of the teaching force.In this context, the aim of our research is to improve educational practices by designing quality measures that are both friendly to the environment and hazardous free. The aim here is to assure adequate art studio and laboratory management, and provide students with hazard free health and environmentally safe concepts that can be incorporated in their professional lives.The school of Fine Arts at the University of Barcelona is part of a pilot program, where our experience in educational innovation and research is serving as a reference for the implantation of OSHAS 18001 norms.

The composition of airborne and grain-dust fungal communities is shaped at regional scale by plant genotypes and farming practices

Chronic exposure to airborne fungi has been associated with different respiratory symptoms and pathologies in occupational populations, such as grain workers. However, the homogeneity in the fungal species composition of these bioaerosols on a large geographical scale and the different drivers that shape these fungal communities remain unclear. In this study, the diversity of fungi in grain dust and in the aerosols released during harvesting was determined across 96 sites at a geographical scale of 560 km(2) along an elevation gradient of 500 m by tag-encoded 454-pyrosequencing of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequences. Associations between the structure of fungal communities in the grain dust and different abiotic (farming system, soil characteristics, geographic and climatic parameters) and biotic (wheat cultivar, previous crop culture) factors were explored. These analyses revealed a strong relationship between the airborne and grain dust fungal communities and showed the presence of allergenic and mycotoxigenic species in most samples, which highlights the potential contribution of these fungal species to work-related respiratory symptoms of grain workers. The farming system was the major driver of the alpha and beta phylogenetic diversity of fungal communities. In addition, elevation and soil CaCO3 concentrations shaped the alpha diversity whereas wheat cultivar, cropping history and the number of freezing days per year shaped the taxonomic beta diversity of these communities.

Assessment of research competences using e-portfolio

The challenges posed by the assessment of distance learning is a topic that requires, on the one hand, evolution with new trends and, on the other improving evaluative processes, to promote good practices. This demand becomes more imperative when we are dealing with a formativescenario based on distance assessment of competence-based learning.The Open University of Catalonia has begun to work with these formative tools, promoting new practices for online education. A very clear example of these educational practices is the assessment of research competences using the e-portfolio system. To meet this aim a profound and solid process has been developed over recent years, with the intention of making this tool an assessment alternative, and providing the opportunity to use it in a formative context. The objective is to study its strengths and limitations keeping in mind the final goal of offering the higher education community a validated assessment system.

Creating a research network for a successful e-portfolio design and implementation

The presence of e-portfolios in educational centres, companies and administrations has emergedstrongly during the last years by creating very different practices coming from different objectives and purposes. This situation has led researchers and practitioners to design and implement e-portfolios with little reference to previous knowledge of them; consequently, developments are disparate with many of the processes and dimensions used both in development and use being unnecessary complex. In order to minimize the inconveniences, unify these developmental processes and improve the resultsof implementation and use of e-portfolios, it seemed necessary to create a network of researchers, teachers and trainers coming from different universities and institutions of different kinds who are interested in the investigation and the practice of e-portfolios in Spain. Therefore, The Network on e-portfoliowas created in 2006, funded by the Spanish Ministry of Education and led by the UniversitatOberta de Catalunya. Besides the goals associatedwith the creation of this network and which wewanted to share with other European researchers and experts of other continents, we will also present in this paper some data concerned with the first study carried out on the use of e-portfolios in our country that shows where we are and which trends are the most important for the near future.

Defining a framework model to determine total costs of managed desktops using ITIL best practices

In modern day organizations there are an increasing number of IT devices such as computers, mobile phones and printers. These devices can be located and maintained by using specialized IT management applications. Costs related to a single device accumulate from various sources and are normally categorized as direct costs like hardware costs and indirect costs such as labor costs. These costs can be saved in a configuration management database and presented to users using web based development tools such as ASP.NET. The overall costs of IT devices during their lifecycle can be ten times higher than the actual purchase price of the product and ability to define and reduce these costs can save organizations noticeable amount of money. This Master’s Thesis introduces the research field of IT management and defines a custom framework model based on Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) best practices which is designed to be implemented as part of an existing IT management application for defining and presenting IT costs.

Research of wood fuel market in Ukraine and the Republic of Belarus

The goal of the present work was to describe the wood fuel market of Ukraine and the Republic of Belarus, to estimate wood fuel potential and to research opportunities of wood fuel trading. Nowadays the wood waste, wood residues and by-products are becoming more and more potential raw materials for energy production. Against the background of unstable prices of traditional energy sources and environmental degradation, European States are planning to get 12% of energy from alternative sources already in 2010. Wastes of wood-working and agricultural productions are such sources. At present time the most popular wood biofuels are wood pellets, briquettes, wood chips and logs. Ukraine and the Republic of Belarus have a rather big potential of wood fuel resources. But wood fuels markets of these countries are on the entry level and quite disorganized. There is almost no domestic usage of wood biofuel. All produced pellets, briquettes as well as wood chips and logs go to the export, but the volumes are not high at present time. Ukraine and the Republic of Belarus have a very suitable geographical location. The most promising directions of wood fuel trading are developed wood fuel markets of Northern countries, Austria, Germany as well as actively developing markets of Poland and Hungary. At the long distance truck and sea transportation are the most appropriate. At a short distance cheap transportation by rail is more suitable. Thereby export is a potential opportunity for development of wood fuel production and in the future for usage in the researched countries.

Limnological research in the Iberian Peninsula: a ten-year survey of published literature.

Research on limnology in southern Europe had achieved a notable presence in the international arena before the onset of the current dramatic cuts in public investment in science. We assessed the limnological research published in peer-reviewed journals by Spanish and Portuguese (i.e., Iberian) researchers during the decade prior to the economic recession (2000 to 2009). The Thompson Reuters Web of Knowledge database was used to retrieve all publications on limnology authored by researchers affiliated with Spanish or Portuguese institutions independently of the geographical setting of the study. The publishing pattern was characterised in terms of authors, journals, and citation statistics. In addition, a thematic characterisation of the research was performed by a manual assignation of several categorical descriptors combined with a blind word count analysis. Iberian researchers produced an annual mean of 278 papers on limnology. Papers were published in journals that had impact factors ranging from 0.1 to 31.4, with a mean of 2.0. Based on citations, the impact of the Iberian limnological research was not due to a few highly cited papers but rather to a wide number of publications; each paper received a mean of 8 citations. The Iberian limnological research involved up to 5460 researchers, with a mean of 4.3 authors per paper. The research largely focused on fluvial systems, with 47 % of total publications (2778) devoted to these ecosystems. There was a dominant focus on local, within-system aspects of study sites and the research was mostly restricted to the Iberian Peninsula; larger spatial scales of analysis (i.e., landscape, regional, or global) tended to be overlooked. Iberian research addressed fundamental (75 %) rather than applied (17 %) or methodological (5 %) questions and was vastly dominated by observational approaches (75 %). Interestingly, Iberian limnological research increased its scientific productivity during the analysed decade at a higher rate than its international counterpart (increase of 119 %). Overall, Iberian research on limnology appeared to be in good health during the analysed decade. Certain areas have been more studied than others, which opens opportunities to develop new research.

Construction and validation of a scoring system for the selection of high-quality data in a Spanish population primary care database (SIDIAP)

Background Computerised databases of primary care clinical records are widely used for epidemiological research. In Catalonia, the InformationSystem for the Development of Research in Primary Care (SIDIAP) aims to promote the development of research based on high-quality validated data from primary care electronic medical records. Objective The purpose of this study is to create and validate a scoring system (Registry Quality Score, RQS) that will enable all primary care practices (PCPs) to be selected as providers of researchusable data based on the completeness of their registers. Methods Diseases that were likely to be representative of common diagnoses seen in primary care were selected for RQS calculations. The observed/ expected cases ratio was calculated for each disease. Once we had obtained an estimated value for this ratio for each of the selected conditions we added up the ratios calculated for each condition to obtain a final RQS. Rate comparisons between observed and published prevalences of diseases not included in the RQS calculations (atrial fibrillation, diabetes, obesity, schizophrenia, stroke, urinary incontinenceand Crohn’s disease) were used to set the RQS cutoff which will enable researchers to select PCPs with research-usable data. Results Apart from Crohn’s disease, all prevalences were the same as those published from the RQS fourth quintile (60th percentile) onwards. This RQS cut-off provided a total population of 1 936 443 (39.6% of the total SIDIAP population). Conclusions SIDIAP is highly representative of the population of Catalonia in terms of geographical, age and sex distributions. We report the usefulness of rate comparison as a valid method to establish research-usable data within primary care electronic medical records

A qualitative analysis of immigrant population health practices in the Girona Healthcare Region

The research we present here forms part of a two-phase project - one quantitative and the other qualitative - assessing the use of primary health care services. This paper presents the qualitative phase of said research, which is aimed at ascertaining the needs, beliefs, barriers to access and health practices of the immigrant population in comparison with the native population, as well as the perceptions of healthcare professionals. Moroccan and sub-Saharan were the immigrants to who the qualitative phase was specifically addressed. The aims of this paper are as follows: to analyse any possible implications of family organisation in the health practices of the immigrant population; to ascertain social practices relating to illness; to understand the significances of sexual and reproductive health practices; and to ascertain the ideas and perceptions of immigrants, local people and professionals regarding health and the health system. Methods: qualitative research based on discursive analysis. Data gathering techniques consisted of discussion groups with health system users and semi-structured individual interviews with healthcare professionals. The sample was taken from the Basic Healthcare Areas of Salt and Banyoles (belonging to the Girona Healthcare Region), the discussion groups being comprised of (a) 6 immigrant Moroccan women, (b) 7 immigrant sub-Saharan African women and (c) 6 immigrant and native population men (2 native men, 2 Moroccan men and 2 sub-Saharan men); and the semi-structured interviews being conducted with the following healthcare professionals: (a) 3 gynaecologists, (b) 3 nurses and 1 administrative staff. Results: use of the healthcare system is linked to the perception of not being well, knowledge of the healthcare system, length of time resident in Spain and interiorization of traditional Western medicine as a cure mechanism. The divergences found among the groups of immigrants, local people and healthcare professionals with regard to healthcare education, use of the healthcare service, sexual and reproductive healthcare and reticence with regard to being attended by healthcare personnel of the opposite sex demonstrate a need to work with the immigrant population as a heterogeneous group. Conclusions: the results we have obtained support the idea that feeling unwell is a psycho-social process, as it takes place within a specific socio-cultural situation and spans a range of beliefs, perceptions and ideas regarding symptomology and how to treat it

Early Childhood Mathematics Education: Research, Curriculum and Educational Practice

This article reviews data obtained through research into early childhood mathematics education in Spain. It analyses the current curricular directions in mathematics education with early learners. It also provides an overview of mathematical practices in early childhood education classrooms to analyse the commonalities and differences between research, curriculum and educational practice. A review of the research presented at SEIEM symposia from 1997 until 2012 demonstrates: a) very little research has been done, a trend that is repeated in other areas, such as the JCR-Social Sciences Edition or the PME; b) the first steps have been taken to create a more and more cohesive body of research, although until now there has not been enough data to outline the curricular directions; and c) some discrepancies still exist between the mathematical practices in early childhood education classrooms and the official guidelines

Project «Water and Environment»: Improving educational practices in the aquatic environment

The project "Water and Environment"for the improvement of educational practices in the aquatic environment, is a research project led by four members of the Research Group of Physical Education at the University of Vic (GREF) experts in water activities. The aim is to train the technicians who teach swimming during school hours. The training is based on improving water treatment practices and competence to face a contradictory scene where clubs develop educational content and where schools transfer to clubs part of its educational activity to contribute significantly and positively to water activities fitting the educational curriculum.

Conversioni al cattolicesimo a Roma tra Sei e Settecento. La presenza degli scandinavi nell’Ospizio dei Convertendi.

In my PhD dissertation, I have examined a group of people of Scandinavian origin received by Ospizio dei Convertendi. This group has been hitherto largely unknown to historical research. The Ospizio was an institute founded by the Oratorian Congregation in Rome in 1673 to provide religious instruction and material aid to both recent and aspirant converts to Roman Catholicism. My research traces the profile of converts and a typology of motives, examining different factors which influenced the conversion process. I show that the key factors were often of a social rather than a religious nature. Moreover, I have analyzed the hospice in the context of Counter-Reformation charity as well. In terms of numbers, the Scandinavians formed a somewhat marginal yet not insignificant group within the Roman hospice. Out of a total of 2203 guests received between 1673 and 1706, 4.6 % were Scandinavians: 74 Swedes (including Finland and Livonia) and 27 Danes (including Norway). They came from a rigorously Protestant region which reacted to Catholicism with severe legislative measures. Converts to Catholicism risked confiscation of their goods, expulsion or even capital punishment. Since both Sweden and Denmark were practically impenetrable to Catholicism at the time and clandestine missionary attempts often failed before they had even properly started, the Roman Catholic Church shifted its interest towards Northerners arriving in Rome, a preferred destination for young noblemen, artists and migrant craftsmen. The material related to Ospizio dei Convertendi, conserved in the Vatican archives, is a scarcely known yet unusually rich source, not only for the religious history of our continent, but also for social history and the study of migration in early modern Europe. It contains a wealth of information about members of the subordinate classes, of their travels and lives in Europe. The profile delineated in these documents is of individuals who had a wide range of different professions and different aspirations. These documents encompass a vast social spectrum that was highly mobile on a continent which by that time had become pluriconfessional. Therefore, these migrants faced the complex religious reality in their everyday life. The principal corpus of my research consists of two types of manuscript sources created for administrative and in a way also for apologetic purposes of the Roman Catholic Church. My starting point is the Primo registro generale of Ospizio dei Convertendi. This is a volume in which the following information about each guest was registered: name, nationality, city of origin, age, sex, profession, confession professed before converting, date of arrival, departure, abjuration and baptism. Typically, the convert was male, originating from Stockholm or Copenhagen, from 21 to 30 years of age. The biggest occupational groups in descending order were soldiers, noblemen, craftsmen and sailors. Thus the data reflects a multiform reality of interurban and long distance migration, ideals regarding the education of young noblemen and gentry as well as the need of European armies to hire foreign mercenaries in their various campaigns. Against this background the almost total absence of women is hardly surprising: there is only one woman in the material I have studied. The second main source, Nota degl’ospiti ricevuti e spese fatte per essi, sheds more light on the choices of the converts, their motivations and their lives outside Scandinavia before reaching Rome. This narrative material permits an analysis which completes but also goes far beyond the columns of the Institute’s general register. This material consists of reports written by Catholic priests based on an interview conducted upon each guest’s arrival. The material frequently includes information on what the converts would do following their departure from the Institute as well. These sources have a specific narrative form and contain short biographies, list reasons for converting and information about the journey from the North to the Mediterranean - a journey which in many cases took several years. Moreover, they show that certain unorthodox practices such as calling on the saints and pleading for help from them were not uncommon in the Protestant popular religion. The recording of information on conversions from Protestantism to Catholicism reflects both religious and social interest on the part of the receiving institute. The information obtained was used for the purposes of religious teaching, for finding adequate ways of inserting the convert into Italian society so that he could earn a living, and to find effective methods to convert others with a similar cultural and geographical background. The stories recorded were based on interviews with the newly-arrived, information obtained from a travel companion or fellow countrymen, or from written documents the aspirant converts carried with them. These sources illustrate, although sometimes in rather simplified ways, the circumstances and motivations which were relevant to the choice of changing one’s confession. In addition, I have examined petitions addressed to the hospice and other Roman authorities in order to get financial aid. These petitions were written by Italian scrittori, and they contain certain conventions and topoi of presenting the conversion with the purpose of improving the chances of obtaining financial aid. It is through these filters, which may seem initially almost invisible, that the remote voice of the converts reaches us. The results of the analysis are particularly interesting because they disagree with some of the principal conclusions of previous work on the subject. First, earlier research has focused almost exclusively on the conversions of noblemen, and has argued, second, that the Queen Christina of Sweden was the driving force behind their change of confession. The sources examined for this dissertation present a profile of long-distance migrants, many of them members of the subordinate classes, who were looking for ways to make their living in Europe. These people had in many cases left their country of origin several years earlier and not for religious reasons, so, crucially, we are not dealing with confessional migration in these cases. Rather, conversion was a complex process, intricately tied up with strategies of survival, integration and upward social mobility. At the same time, while these components are significant on their own right, they do not necessarily point to the absence of motivations of a more clearly religious nature.